A 10-year-old Texas boy confessed last week to killing a stranger more than two years ago, but state law says the accused killer cannot be charged with the crime.
The boy told important details that have not been revealed to the public in the 2022 murder of Brandon O’Quinn Raspberry, which has puzzled authorities for more than two years.
According to the Gonzalez County Sheriff’s Office, Raspberry, 32, was found inside an RV on January 18, 2022, with a single gunshot wound to the head and two minor abrasions on both hands.
Investigators believe she had been dead for two days before her employer reported her missing. He had only been living at his RV park for four days.
Police scoured Raspberry’s cell phone data and interviewed several neighbors, but all leads were exhausted – last week, a local school principal called and revealed the 10-year-old’s chilling confession. The student was reported to have threatened to kill another student.
“Based on this information, the deputy contacted the Gonzalez County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division. Investigators believe the child may have known about Brandon’s murder based on information the child told the school. ”, the ministry said.
In an interview with police, the boy, who has not been identified, “detailed” all the details of the cold-blooded murder, which he allegedly committed when he was just seven years old.
Police said the boy was visiting his grandfather, who also lives at the RV park, at the time and noticed Raspberry walking around the property.
The boy said that on the night of the murder, he took a 9mm pistol from the glove box of his grandfather’s truck and snuck into Raspberry’s RV.
“The child stated that he saw Brandon sleeping in his bed, approached him and fired the gun at Brandon, hitting him once in the head,” police said.
“The child stated that as he exited the RV, he fired the gun a second time into the couch inside the RV. The child then exited the RV and returned the gun to the glove box of the truck.”
According to investigators, the boy had no clear motive for committing the unusual crime.
He admitted he had never met the victim and did not even know her name.
“The child was also asked if he was angry with Brandon for any reason or if Brandon had ever done anything to make him angry, to which the child responded no,” police said.
The same day, police tracked down what they believed to be the murder weapon at a pawn shop where the child’s grandfather later sold it. It was then matched with spent shell casings collected at the murder scene.
The most shocking thing is that the boy cannot be charged with Raspberry’s death. Texas law states that children cannot be held responsible for a crime until they are 10 years old.
Raspberry’s family is not only furious that their loved one’s killer went unpunished for his murder, but also shocked that their child was so young.
“It’s a senseless murder and it’s really tragic knowing that the person who committed the murder was 7 years old. It’s kind of hard to wrap your head around it,” said Raspberry’s brother, Jonathan Fozik. he told KENS5.
“I feel like the boy knew exactly what he was doing,” Fozik added.
“Why didn’t you supervise your child more?”
Following his confession, the boy was placed in emergency custody for 72 hours before being transported to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio, Texas, for examination and treatment.
He has since been arrested on suspicion of terroristic threats in an incident involving a classmate and is being held in the county jail.
